WWII Week: Slovakia

Once I'm done with Slovakia, I won't be behind on any countries! All I will have left is my Easter/what we've been up to blog. 

Slovakia along with Romania was one of our 'puppet governments' under Stalin after WWII. I wanted to fill in with a few more countries related to WWII while we finished up our lapbooks and got to a game of Axis and Allies. Asa was in the office AGAIN this week (this time his own doing, so he can be work from home next week), so I did the best I could to squeeze in countries and activities. 

 

I had the boys put together their lapbooks however they wanted. Some of them were a bit dismayed at the prospect of having little to no direction. But, we're going to present them and vote on the best presentation and lapbook for money for their jars, so I didn't want to influence what they did too much. (I don't have a picture of Calib with his yet, I'll have to try and remember to add it later). 

So quickly let's get to the second half of the former Czechoslovakia. We covered the Czech Republic and the Velvet Revolution (the two country's peaceful split) during religion week. But today belonged to the second half of that: Slovakia. 

Our landmark was the Dobsinska Ice Cave. Slovakia has plenty to offer above ground, with it's unspoiled land and ancient castles, including the Spis Castle, one of the oldest (at least 900 years) and largest in Europe. 

But below ground, they have a whole other world. Dobsinska is just the largest, and most well known of all the ice caves in Slovakia. Full of Stalagmites and Stalactites, plenty of interesting bones have also been found in the caves. Between bat bones and bear bones (which were mistaken for dragon bones at some point), I'm not sure I'd love going in the caves. But it sure seems like an adventure. 

A few other Slovakian quirks we learned about: 

There's a spa where you can take a bath in beer (it's said to be very good for the skin, apparently)

Slovakia was home to the first known female serial killer (legend says she bathed in the blood of her victims). 

One of the most modern day famous Slovakians is a lady who has collected over 62,000 napkins from all over the world. 

The boys made their postcards (and all of them featured Countess Dracula's bath full of blood- boys are gross!) 

Calib wrote Czechoslovakia and crossed out the Czecho part. 

Peyton drew a wooden church in the hills. Interestingly enough, they have a state recognized religion of Roman Catholic, which is totally the opposite of their Czech Republic neighbors who we did for Atheism during Religion Week. 

Hayden focused on what is above ground in Slovakia, as well as what is underground. 

For dinner we had a popular Slovakian street food: Vyprazany Syr or FRIED CHEESE! (They call it something slightly different over in the Czech Republic, but they eat it there too). 

Everything I could find said to pair the fried cheese with french fries and a side salad, so we did that.We had strawberries and blueberries, as it is a berry heavy country (and they are on sale 3 for $5 at Sprouts this week!) 

This meal earned 4 spoons up. 

In case you're wondering which one of my kids is crazy, it's Peyton. 

Because, FRIED CHEESE! So, it wasn't the healthiest dinner. But there was kale and spinach in my salad people. 

That does it for WWII Week! 

Slovakia got a nice bright yellow color, and our Europe map is really starting to fill in. 

63 down, 130 to go! 

Next Up: Finland!